| Memories From First Climb |
| On my first climb with the AdAmAn club I was nervous and concerned about not killing myself or embarrassing Al Pierce my father-in-law. I was hiking with climbing Gods; George Lindeman, Ed Kirches, Bob Stafford, Jim Bates and others. During the second day of the climb I asked Carl Lindeman how loud the fireworks would be and he said "you can hear them with your chest!" Well how do we ignite them? "You slide them down to the bottom of the mortar tube by holding onto the fuse and then light it with a road flare and hunker down next to the steel box so you don't blow your head off!" I stopped asking questions and focused on trying to breathe... |
| Memories From First Member Year |
I
had the good fortune of having my parents at the AdAmAn dinner the year I was
selected as the new member which greatly added to the honor and celebration. My
new member climb was my ninth climb with the club and I was comfortable with
the members and the hike. The temperatures that December however, fluctuated erratically
from very warm to below freezing leaving a thick layer of ice on Barr trail.
The stream at Barr camp had over flowed and was an ice-skating rink, starting
100 yards below the camp. This was before the days of micro spikes so we slide
our way into camp using our ice axes for balance. The second day the weather
was good and we were able to flash mirrors down to the city. When we reached
the Cirque, the trail was once again filled with ice and as we continued on, we
chose to go up the boulder field, south of the Golden Stairs. It was a tough
climb but everyone made it safely into the summit house. Firing the midnight
show, with adrenalin pumping in my veins as each firework left the mortar tube
with a great THUD reminded me once again, you do "hear them with your
chest!" |
| Memories of Family |
My wife Sarah is the kindest most patient woman God ever created! I guess it came from having a dad in the AdAmAn club but she is used to not having men around for New Year's Eve! She tolerates training hikes, firework preparations, firework shows on the 4th of July and everything else AdAmAn, thank you Lord! For a few years in the early 1990's my kids and I were able to join in on the AdAmAn dad's and kid's weekend at Barr Camp started by Bill Wilhoite, John Graham and others. The dads would bring their kids up and give them the run of Barr Camp for a weekend, no Moms allowed! Sarah said no problem I'll just go up to Glenwood Springs with my sisters for the weekend. My kids and I went to Barr Camp 2 or 3 times but Sarah and her sisters kept going to Glenwood Springs for years!
In the summer of 2006 I was hiking the Section 16 trail with Al Pierce and reminiscing about our training hikes to Barr Camp before the annual climb. He was 90 years old and his last climb with the club to the summit of Pikes Peak had been at age 79. His eyes lit up as we talked and laughed about our adventures. Finally, I asked him if he would like to go to Barr Camp again, he hesitated and said "I don't hike very fast anymore so it would take all day." We started out early the next Saturday on a warm, sunny, beautiful day. We made our way up the trail pausing at the top of Mt. Manitou for a drink and the Experimental Forest for a snack. When we got to Barr Camp, we had lunch and Al fed the Jays pieces of crackers from his hand. Theresa and Neal were the caretakers at Barr Camp so I was able to snap a picture of him with Theresa, one of his favorite "girl friends"! |
| Favorite Memories from Climbing Fourteeners |
| Bob Stafford is one of the strongest climbers that I have ever know and he was an extremely conscientious club president. He was very worried about the safety of the club and the continuing practice of hand launching the fireworks. He asked Bob Kordula our fireworks supplier about what they did at the big displays for safety. He even went down to Memorial park to help launch the show on the 4th of July so that he could learn. After seeing the electronic firing panels and the cabling that allowed the operators to be 75 feet away from the fireworks as they were launched he knew we had to make a change. Bob asked Ted Lindeman and me if we could build a system like they had a Memorial park. The very next New Year's show was fired electronically and the system has been evolving ever since. |
| Memories from Favorite Mountain Climb |
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| Memories of Favorite Gear |
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| Memories of Worst Gear Failure |
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